Apparatus for providing multiple screens and method of dynamically configuring multiple screens

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method for providing multiple screens is provided. The apparatus for providing multiple screens includes a service processing module providing a plurality of services, an interface module through which an audio content is independently selected from the plurality of services, and an output module outputting the selected audio content.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Nos. 60/705,491, 60/789,577 and 60/812,090 filed on Aug. 5,2005, Apr. 6, 2006 and Jun. 9, 2006, respectively, in the United Statespatent and Trademark Office, the disclosures of which are incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate toconfiguring multiple screens, and more particularly, to dynamicallyconfiguring multiple screens which provide multiple contents on a singlephysical display device

2. Description of the Related Art

Related art broadcast receivers such as digital televisions (TVs) ordigital set-top boxes provide only one content element on a singlephysical display device or simultaneously display a main screen and asub-screen on a single physical display device.

Even though related art broadcast receivers can simultaneously displayboth the main screen and the sub-screen on the same display screen, theycan only arrange the main screen and the sub-screen in a limited numberof manners. In the case of a content displayed within the main screen,all elements of the content, i.e., video data, audio data, and otherdata, are displayed. On the other hand, in the case of a contentdisplayed within the sub-screen, only some of the elements of thecontent are displayed.

Content sources include a broadcast service such as a satellitebroadcaster, a terrestrial broadcaster, or a cable broadcaster, astorage medium such as digital versatile discs DVDs, or an externaldevice connected to an input terminal. However, it is quite difficult todisplay contents provided by such various content sources on a displayscreen using the existing broadcast receivers.

In an interactive TV application program environment such as theMultimedia Home Platform (MHP), the Advanced Common Application (ACAP),and the Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP), it is assumed that onlyone screen is output on a physical display device.

In the interactive TV application program environment, for example, aHome Audio/Video Interoperability (HAVi)-based user interface (UI) isadopted. According to the HAVi UI standard, even though no restrictionis imposed on the number of screens displayed on a physical displaydevice, only one screen is generally displayed on a physical displaydevice.

In such an environment, it is difficult to perform operations, such asdecoding, digital signal processing, user interaction processing, etc.with respect to one among multimedia contents displayed on a screenwhile displaying the multimedia contents on independent screens. Inaddition, it is also difficult to dynamically control the life cycles ofapplication programs and the use of resources in the units of thescreens.

Accordingly, there exists a need for a method of displaying a variety ofcontents on a dynamically configured screen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a dynamic configuration of multiplescreens which provide a plurality of contents on a physical displaydevice.

The present invention also provides a method of independently selectingand outputting an audio content provided in individual services.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided anapparatus for providing multiple screens, the apparatus including aservice processing module providing a plurality of services, auser/application interface module through which an audio content isindependently selected from the plurality of services, and an outputmodule outputting the selected audio content.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedan apparatus for providing multiple screens, the apparatus including auser/application interface module receiving a selection for a specificservice, and an output module outputting an audio content of theselected service independently of the selected service.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedan apparatus for providing multiple screens, the apparatus including auser/application interface module through which an audio content of aspecific service is independently selected, and an output moduleoutputting the selected audio content.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of providing multiple screens, the method includingindependently selecting an audio content from a plurality of servicesprovided at the same time, and outputting the selected audio content.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of providing multiple screens, the method including selecting aspecific service, extracting an audio content from the selected service,and outputting the extracted audio content.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of providing multiple screens, the method includingindependently selecting an audio content from a specific service, andoutputting the selected audio content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects of the present invention will become moreapparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof withreference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1A to 1H are diagrams illustrating configurations of a PiP screenaccording to exemplary embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between a logicalscreen and a display screen according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 3A to 3E are diagrams illustrating a configuration of a screenincluding a mapper according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating service sources according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating a non-abstract service and anabstract service according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating examples of the types of attributeinformation and interfaces of a logical screen and a display screen;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an attribute ‘z-order’ of a logicalscreen according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams each illustrating an attribute‘Display_Area’ of a logical screen according to exemplary embodiments ofthe present invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a method of mapping two services to adisplay screen according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an apparatusfor providing multiple screens according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method of dynamically configuringmultiple screens according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 12A and 12B are diagrams illustrating PiP service providing modesaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a method of independently selectingan audio content and outputting the selected audio content according toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software architecturefor providing multiple screens according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating the relationships among modulesconstituting an application programming interface (API) layer accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying a pluralityof services that are displayed on respective corresponding logicalscreens on a display screen by the modules illustrated in FIG. 15according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods ofaccomplishing the same may be understood more readily by reference tothe following detailed description of exemplary embodiments and theaccompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodiedin many different forms and should not be construed as being limited tothe exemplary embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these exemplaryembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete and will fully convey the concept of the invention to thoseskilled in the art, and the present invention will only be defined bythe appended claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elementsthroughout the specification.

The present invention is described hereinafter with reference toflowchart illustrations of user interfaces, methods, and computerprogram products according to exemplary embodiments of the invention. Itwill be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations, andcombinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations, can beimplemented by computer program instructions. These computer programinstructions can be provided to a processor of a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which are executed via the processor of the computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, create means for implementingthe functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerusable or computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer usable orcomputer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture includinginstruction means that implement the function specified in the flowchartblock or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Each block of the flowchart illustrations may represent a module,segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executableinstructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). Itshould also be noted that in some alternative implementations, thefunctions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order. For example,two blocks illustrated in succession may in fact be executedsubstantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed inthe reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.

For a better understanding of the present invention, the terms used inthis disclosure will now be defined.

The term ‘service’ indicates a group of multimedia contents displayedtogether, i.e., a group of service components.

Service components are elements of a service and include a videocomponent, an audio component, and a data component. A data component isan application program in a service.

Applications can be classified as unbound applications and service boundapplications. The unbound application is not related to a specificchannel, and thus the execution of the application is not effected bychannel switching. Further, the unbound application usually has a highpriority, and therefore resources for executing the application aresmoothly assigned to the application. A monitor application correspondsto one of specific unbound applications capable of having the highestpriority.

Meanwhile, the service bound application relates to a transport streamand usually has a low priority as compared to the unbound application.The service bound application does not perform any critical systemfunction. For this reason, when competition for resources occurs, apossibility for the service bound application to abandon resourceassignment is higher as compared to the unbounded application. Theservice bound applications can be classified as a linked type ofoperating in cooperation with a stream being currently transmitted andan unlinked type of operating regardless of a stream being currentlytransmitted.

The term ‘service context’ indicates an object which can control theexecuting of a service and includes various resources, devices, andexecution state information needed for providing a service.

The term ‘physical display device’ indicates a physical space whichactually displays the content of a service, an external output portoutputting the content of a service, or a storage device storing aservice.

The term ‘display screen’ indicates a screen actually displayed on aphysical display device. An arbitrary service may be directly set in thedisplay screen, and the display screen may be displayed on a physicaldisplay device. Alternatively, at least one logical screen which ismapped to a certain area of the display screen may be displayed on thephysical display device.

The term ‘logical screen’ indicates a space in which an arbitraryservice is displayed. A logical screen is a virtual screen before beingmapped to a display screen and thus is not displayed on a physicaldisplay device.

The logical screen and the display screen may be a combination of abackground still image, a video raster, and a graphic raster. Thegraphic raster may be a combination of text, lines, colors, and imagesor a mixture of video frames.

The term ‘main service’ indicates a service that is selected as a mainservice through a menu displayed on the physical display device or aremote controller by a user or through an API by an application, and thescreen on which the main service is displayed is referred to as a ‘mainscreen’.

The term ‘Picture-in-Picture service’ (PiP service) indicates a servicethat is selected as a sub-service in the main service through a menudisplayed on a physical display device or a remote controller by a uservia an API by an application, and the PiP service may be displayed on apicture-in-picture screen (PiP screen) or a main screen.

The PiP screen includes a screen that occupies a part of another screenas illustrated in FIGS. 1A to 1D and a screen that is simultaneouslydisplayed with another screen without overlapping the other screen asillustrated in FIGS. 1E to 1F. In this case, it is understood that thePiP screen may include a screen that is displayed on an arbitrarylocation or area in the physical display device or overlaps anotherscreen, as illustrated in FIGS. 1G and 1H.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between a logicalscreen and a display screen according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, a service may be displayed using logical screens210, 212, and 214. The logical screens 210, 212, and 214 are mapped todisplay screens 220, 222, and 224 through a mapping block 230.

In detail, the logical screens 210 and 212 are mapped to the displayscreen 220, the logical screens 212 and 214 are mapped to the displayscreen 222, and the logical screens 210, 212, and 214 are mapped to thedisplay screen 224.

In short, at least one logical screen which displays a service is mappedto an arbitrary area of a display screen.

The mapping block 230 is a group of various pieces of information neededfor mapping a logical screen to a display screen. Examples of thevarious pieces of information include coordinate information of apredetermined area on a display screen to which each of a plurality oflogical screens is mapped, identification information of the logicalscreens and the display screen, and information specifying in what orderthe logical screens are displayed on the display screen.

The mapping block 230 can change the size of the logical screen so to beallocated in an arbitrary area of the display screen. That is, themapping block 230 can perform scaling of the logical screen andallocating of the position thereof, and FIGS. 3A to 3E are diagramsillustrating a configuration of the screen including a mapper as themapping block.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the main screen including a combination of abackground still image B, a video raster V, and a graphic raster G ismapped to the entire display screen by a mapper with a normal size. ThePiP screen including only video components is mapped to the entiredisplay screen by the mapper with a reduced size. In this case, themapped PiP screen is displayed on the main screen, which is determineddepending on a Z value. The reference character Z refers to z-ordervalue which will be described later. An overlay screen may be combinedwith the display screen. The overlay screen is a specific screendisposed at the outmost side, and may be used when providing a captionfunction. The PiP screen may have only a video component as illustratedin FIG. 3A, or may have a combination of the background still image B,the video raster V, and the graphic rater G as illustrated in FIG. 3B.

Referring to FIG. 3C, the main screen including the combination of thebackground still image B, the video raster V, and the graphic rater G ismapped to the entire display screen by the mapper with a normal size.Two PiP screens #1 and #2 having only video component is mapped to anarbitrary area of the display screen by the mapper with a reduced size.In this case, the mapped PiP screen is disposed on the main screen andthe Z value can be constantly maintained. Further, the overlay screenmay be combined with the display screen. The configuration of the screenmay have a plurality of PiP screens including only video components asillustrated in FIG. 3C or a plurality of PiP screens including acombination of the background still image B, the video raster V, and thegraphic rater G as illustrated in FIG. 3D.

Picture-outside-picture (POP) screens are illustrated in FIG. 3E. It canbe understood that a known PiP screen is displayed inside the mainscreen and the POP screen is displayed outside the main screen.Referring to FIG. 3E, the plurality of PiP screens #1 and #2 including acombination of the background still image B, the video raster V, and thegraphic rater G are mapped to arbitrary areas of the display screen bythe mapper with a reduced size. In this case, the Z value of the mappedPOP screens #1 and #2 may be constantly maintained. Further, the overlayscreen may be combined with the display screen.

The mapping block 230 may be realized by interfaces or functionsprepared by various computer program languages to be executed and createor change the relationship between the logical screen and the displayscreen by using the above information as parameters.

Alternatively, the mapping block 230 may be realized by hardware toperform a mapping function between the logical screen and the displayscreen.

Further, services provided by various service sources may be displayedon a display screen, and the display screen may be displayed on aphysical display device, as illustrated in FIG. 4.

There are service sources which provide broadcast services such as aterrestrial broadcaster 320 and a cable broadcaster 330, service sourceswhich provide services stored in a storage medium such as a personalvideo recorder (PVR) 340, and service sources (not illustrated in FIG.4) which provide services via a wired network or a wireless network.

A broadcast receiver 310 receives services from the service sources andproduces logical screens displaying each of the received services.

Then, an arbitrary service is directly set on the display screen to bedisplayed on a physical display device using a predefined method or amethod set by a user or an application. Otherwise, at least one logicalscreen that is mapped to an arbitrary area on the display screen isdisplayed on a physical display device 350. In short, services providedby the terrestrial broadcaster 320, the cable broadcaster 330, and thePVR are displayed on the physical display device 350.

The terrestrial broadcaster 320, the cable broadcaster 330, and the PVR340 are illustrated in FIG. 4 as being service sources, but the presentinvention is not limited to it. Any type of multimedia content sourcewhich provides multimedia contents that can be displayed together can bea service source according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

Services according to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventioncan be classified into abstract services and non-abstract services, asillustrated in FIGS. 5A and 5B.

The abstract services are not services provided by broadcast signalstransmitted in real time but services independent of broadcast channels.The abstract services include only data components, i.e., applicationprograms, without video components and audio components. Examples of theabstract services include services having unbound applications based onthe OCAP) standard.

The non-abstract services are understood as services other than abstractservices.

According to the current exemplary embodiment of the present invention,both abstract services and non-abstract services have independency. Forexample, abstract services may be directly set on the physical displaydevice not through logical screens and non-abstract services may bedisplayed on the logical screens. Then, the logical screens may bemapped to the display screen in which the abstract services are set.Thereafter, the display screen may be output through the physicaldisplay device. By doing so, the abstract services can be displayed onthe display screen independently of the non-abstract services. Inaddition, the abstract services and non-abstract services may be mappedto different logical screens. Thereafter, the logical screens may bemapped to a single display screen. In other words, the abstract servicescan be displayed on the display screen independently of non-abstractservices.

According to the current exemplary embodiment of the present invention,the logical screen and the display screen may be categorized as beingdifferent objects. Alternatively, a screen may serve as a logical screenor a display screen according to attribute information of one screenobject.

In detail, whether a screen is a logical screen or a display screen canbe known through type information of attribute information on the screenobject.

Attribute information of the screen object includes a plurality ofattributes ‘Type’, ‘z-Order’, ‘Display_Area’, ‘Visibility’,‘Associated_Display_Screen’, ‘Associated_Service_Contexts’, and‘OutputPort’.

FIG. 6 illustrates the attribute information on the screen object andthe types of interface for processing the attribute information.

An attribute ‘Type’ 510 represents whether the screen is a logicalscreen or a display screen.

An attribute ‘z-Order’ 520 is for determining in what order a pluralityof logical screens are arranged along the z-axis. FIG. 7 illustrates aconfiguration of logical screens on a physical display device for acombinations of the values of attributes ‘z-Order’ of the logicalscreens.

Referring to FIG. 7, first and second logical screens 620 and 630 arerespectively mapped to predetermined areas of a display screen 610. Indetail, the first logical screen 620 is displayed on the display screen610, and the second logical screen 630 is displayed on the displayscreen partially overlapping the first logical screen 620. In otherwords, the display screen 610, the first logical screen 620, and thesecond logical screen 630 are sequentially arranged in the direction ofthe z-axis. In this case, an attribute ‘z-Order’ of the first logicalscreen 620 may be set to a value of 1, and an attribute ‘z-Order’ of thesecond logical screen 630 may be set to a value of 2. The attributes‘z-Order’ of the first and second logical screens 620 and 630 may be setto any numbers or characters as long as they can represent a certainorder in which the first and second logical screens 620 and 630 are tobe arranged along the z-axis.

An attribute ‘Display_Area’ 530 is information regarding a displayscreen area of a logical screen, as to be illustrated in FIGS. 8A and8B.

FIG. 8A illustrates that a logical screen 710 is mapped to an entirearea of the display screen 720, and FIG. 8B illustrates that a logicalscreen 730 is mapped to a partial area of the display screen 740.

The attribute ‘Display_Area’ may include information specifying thetwo-dimensional coordinates of a predetermined portion of a displayscreen to which the logical screen is to be mapped or may includeinformation specifying a predetermined location on the display screenand an offset value indicating how much the logical screen deviates fromthe predetermined location on the display screen.

An attribute ‘Visibility’ 540 determines whether a logical screen is tobe visibly or invisibly displayed on a display screen. It is possible tomake a logical screen appear on or disappear from a display screen byaltering the value of the attribute ‘Visibility’ 540.

An attribute ‘Associated_Display_Screen’ 550 is information regardingdisplay screens associated with a logical screen. A logical screen whichis not associated with any display screens may not be displayed on aphysical display device nor be transmitted to external output devices.

An attribute ‘Associated_Service_Contexts’ 560 is information regardingservice contexts connected to a logical screen or a display screen.Services set in such service contexts may be displayed on a logicalscreen or a display screen.

An attribute ‘OutputPort’ 570 is information regarding devices by whicha display screen is to be output, and such devices include displayscreens, wired/wireless communication media, and various storage media.

Interfaces for identifying or altering the values of the attributesillustrated in FIG. 6 may be provided. Referring to FIG. 6, theinterfaces may include an interface ‘SET’ for setting attribute valuesor connecting a logical screen to a display screen, an interface ‘ADD’for adding attribute values or connecting a logical screen to a service,an interface ‘GET’ for identifying attribute values, and an interface‘REMOVE’ for deleting attribute values. These interfaces may includeprocesses, functions, procedures, or methods that perform theirfunctions, respectively.

For example, a method ‘getDisplayScreen(void)’ returns a display screenassociated with the current screen. In detail, if the current screen isa logical screen, the method ‘getDisplayScreen(void)’ returns theassociated display screen. If the current screen is display screen, themethod ‘getDisplayScreen(void)’ returns reference information regardingthe current screen. Further, if the current screen is a logical screen,but there is no associated screen, the method ‘getDisplayScreen(void)’returns a value of ‘NULL’.

According to another example, a method ‘public voidsetDisplayArea(HScreenRectangle rect) throws SecurityException,IllegalStateException’ provides a function for mapping the currentlogical screen to a predetermined area of the associated display screen.An instance that is provided as a parameter is of a class‘HScreenRectangle’ of a package ‘org.havi.ui’, and has two-dimensionalposition information. The execution of the methods ‘SecurityException’and ‘IllegalStateException’ may be conducted as an exceptional operationfor the method ‘setDisplayScreen(HScreen screen)’. The method‘IllegalStateException’ may be executed when the current screen is alogical screen or when a portion of a display screen associated with acurrent logical screen cannot change due to the characteristics of ahost platform.

According to still another example, a method ‘getOutputArea(void)’returns regional information of a current screen as HScreenRectangleinformation. If the current screen corresponds to a display screen, themethod ‘getOutputArea(void)’ returns HScreenRectangle information havingthe same value as HScreenRectangle (0,0,1,1). If the current screen is alogical screen, the method ‘getOutputArea(void)’ returns informationregarding an area on a display screen occupied by the current screen. Ifthe current screen is a logical screen but is not associated with anydisplay screen, the method ‘getOutputArea(void)’ returns a value ‘NULL’.

Certain terms are used throughout the following description to refer toparticular interfaces. However, one skilled in the art will appreciatethat a particular function is named simply to indicate itsfunctionality. This detailed description of the exemplary embodimentsdoes not intend to distinguish between functions that differ in name butnot function.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a process that two services are set ontwo logical screens to be mapped to a single display screen.

Referring to FIG. 9, a first service includes all the three servicecomponents, i.e., video, audio, and data components, and a secondservice includes only video and audio components. However, the presentinvention does not impose any restrictions on service components, andthe first and second services illustrated in FIG. 8 are exemplary.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the first and second services are displayed ona physical display device in almost the same manner as in the relatedart. According to the current exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, it is possible to display a plurality of services on aphysical display device independently of one another without imposingany restrictions on the number of services that can be displayed on asingle display screen.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an apparatus for providing multiplescreens according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 10, an apparatus 900 for providing multiple screensincludes a digital signal processing module 940, a service processingmodule 950, an output module 960, and a user/application interfacemodule 965.

Also, the apparatus 900 includes a broadcast signal reception module910, a storage medium 920, and an external input module 930 as servicesources, and includes a display screen 970, a storage medium 980, and anexternal output module 990 as service output media.

The term ‘module’, as used herein, means, but is not limited to, asoftware or hardware component, such as a Field Programmable Gate Array(FPGA) or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), whichperforms certain tasks. A module may advantageously be configured toreside on the addressable storage medium and configured to be executedon one or more processors. Thus, a module may include, by way ofexample, components, such as software components, object-orientedsoftware components, class components and task components, processes,functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of programcode, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, datastructures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functionality providedfor in the components and modules may be combined into fewer componentsand modules or further separated into additional components and modules.

The digital signal processing module 940 receives various information ofa service such as a multimedia content, e.g., video information, audioinformation, or data information, from the broadcast signal receptionmodule 910, the storage medium 920, or the external input module 930.

The broadcast signal reception module 910 receives a satellite,terrestrial, or cable broadcast signal and transmits the receivedbroadcast signal, the storage medium 920 stores video information, audioinformation, or data information of a service, and the external inputmodule 930 receives video information, audio information, or datainformation of a service from an external device such as a networkinterface module connected to a network.

The digital signal processing module 940 restores a plurality ofservices using received service components. The restored servicesinclude abstract or non-abstract services.

Here, the phrase ‘a plurality of services’ refers to two or moreservices transmitted by the broadcast signal reception module 910 or twoor more services respectively transmitted by the broadcast signalreception module 910 and the storage medium 920.

The digital signal processing module 940 may restore services accordingto selection by a user or an application with the aid of theuser/application interface module 965. In this case, the user or theapplication may select the connection between an arbitrary service and ascreen.

The service processing module 950 produces a one or more logical screensand a display screen to display the services restored by the digitalsignal processing module 940.

The output module 960 maps a plurality of logical screens produced bythe service processing module 950 to the display screen. The mapping ofthe logical screens to the display screen may be conducted using apredefined method or a method set by the user with the aid of theuser/application interface module 965.

A service restored by the digital signal processing module 940 may notbe processed by the service module 950. Instead, a service restored bythe digital signal processing module 940 may be directly mapped to acertain portion of a display screen produced by the output module 960.

A display screen provided by the output module 960 may be displayed onthe physical display device 970 or may be stored in the storage medium980. Examples of the storage medium 980 include computer readable floppydiscs, hard discs, CD-ROM. DVD, DVD-ROM, BD (Blu-ray Disc), andsemiconductor memories.

Also, a display screen provided by the output module 960 may betransmitted to an external device connected to a network via theexternal output module 990.

For this, the output module 960 may include a plurality of output portsvia which a display screen can be provided. In this case, a displayscreen can be provided via an output port set in advance as a default oran output port chosen by the user with the aid of the user/applicationinterface module 965.

The user or the application can choose one of a plurality of services orrestore desired services using the user/application interface module965. Also, the user can choose one of a plurality of display screensusing the user/application interface module 965.

Since the modules illustrated in FIG. 10 are divided according to theirfunctions, it is possible to be connected to the other modules.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method of dynamically configuringmultiple screens according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

In general, video information, audio information, and data informationconstituting a multimedia content are transmitted in a predeterminedformat, for example, an MPEG stream format. In operation S1010, anapparatus for providing a service such as a multimedia content servicereceives video information, audio information, and data information andrestores a service based on the video information, the audioinformation, and the data information. Here, the service restored inoperation S1010 may be selected or previously determined by a user or anapplication. The user may use a menu displayed on the display device ora remote controller to select the connections between an arbitraryscreen and a screen. The application may select the connections using anAPI.

Further, data information includes application information regardingapplication program for a service, and these application informationincludes signal information indicating whether the application programcan be executed on a PiP screen. Examples of the application informationinclude an application information table (AIT) based on the MHP standardand an eXtended application information table (XAIT) based on the OCAPstandard. The signal information may be added to the applicationinformation.

Thereafter, in operation S1020, the restored service is set such that itcan be displayed on a logical screen. In operation S1030, the logicalscreen is mapped to a display screen. In operation S1040, the displayscreen is provided to the user using a display screen, a storage medium,or a network.

The restored service is illustrated in FIG. 11 as being displayed on aphysical display device via a logical screen. However, the restoredservice may be directly displayed on a physical display device withoutpassing through the logical screen.

FIG. 11 illustrates a method of mapping only one service to a displayscreen for simplicity. However, a plurality of services may be mapped toa display screen with or without passing through a plurality of logicalscreens. When a display screen is provided to the user in this manner,the user can perform a plurality of services.

When the user or application selects a PiP service, the apparatus 900for providing multiple screens provides the PiP service into two modes.FIG. 12A illustrates a first mode of the two modes and FIG. 12Billustrates a second mode of the two modes.

Referring to FIG. 12A, in the first mode, only video component for PiPservice selected on the main screen is provided without creating aseparate logical screen for PiP service, that is, a PiP screen. In thefirst mode, any application related to the PiP service is not executedor the operation of an application related to the PiP service becomesinactive.

Referring to FIG. 12B, in the second mode, a separate logical screen forPiP service is created to provide the PiP service selected on thecreated PiP screen. The PiP screen provided in the second mode mayinclude a background video serving as a background screen, or a videocomponent. Further, in the second mode, an application related to thePiP service can be executed. Whether an application related to the PiPservice can be executed or not may be determined on the basis of thesignal information described above.

It is preferable that the first mode and the second mode cannot beexecuted at the same time.

The PiP service providing mode may be selected by input of the user orthe application through the user/application interface module 965. Whenthe user or the application selects the first mode, the digital signalprocessing module 940 restores only the video component of the selectedPiP service. The restored video component is mapped to the main screenproduced by the service processing module 950 and is then displayed on adisplay screen produced by the output module 960. When the user or theapplication selects the second mode, the digital signal processingmodule 940 restores the selected PiP service. The restored service ismapped to the PiP screen created by the service processing module 950and is then displayed on the display screen produced by the outputmodule 960.

The user or the application can select an audio content of a specificone of a plurality of services provided on the logical screen throughthe user/application interface module 965 so that the output of theselected audio content can be independently output. This process isillustrated in FIG. 13.

First, the user or the application selects a specific service throughthe user/application module 965 (S1310).

Then, the digital signal processing module 940 extracts an audio contentfrom the selected service, and the extracted audio content is mapped toa logical screen or a display screen produced by the service processingmodule 950 and is independently output on the corresponding screen bythe output module 960 (S1320). Here, ‘independently output’ can beunderstood as, for example, a concept in which an audio content of aspecific service is selected and transmitted through an output portmapped to the display screen displaying the specific servicesimultaneously or exclusively with audio contents of the other servicesprovided on the same screen. It can also be understood as the‘independent output’ that audio contents of a plurality of services areoutput, provided, or stored through different media, respectively. Inother words, an audio content need not be provided with other componentsof the same service and may be independently provided by the user or theapplication.

The output module 960 is selected by the user or the application andoutputs the audio content through a predetermined external output module990.

When a plurality of audio contents are selected, the individual audiocontents may be independently output through the separate externaloutput modules 990 at the same time.

The user or the application can select a desired audio content throughthe user/application module 965 independently of the other components inthe same service.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a software architecture for providingmultiple screens according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 14, a software architecture 1400 includes a devicedriver layer 1410, an API layer 1420, and an application layer 1430.

The device driver layer 1410 receives service components from variousmultimedia content sources and decodes the received service components.Examples of the received service components include video information,audio information, and data information.

The API layer 1420 generates a logical screen and a display screen andmaps a service, the logical screen, and the display screen to oneanother.

The application layer 1430 provides a user interface so that a user candynamically configure a logical screen which displays a service ortransmits a user command to the API layer 1420 so that the API layer1420 can execute the user command.

In the application layer 1430, audio contents can be selectedindependently by user or application, and the selected audio contentscan be independently output by the device driver layer 1410.

The user enables the device driver layer 1410 with the aid of theapplication layer 1430 to provide a display screen via a physicaldisplay device or to store the display screen in a storage medium. Inaddition, the user can enable the device driver layer 1410 to transmit adisplay screen to an external device via a network.

For this, the device driver layer 1410 may include a plurality of outputports which can provide a display screen. Otherwise, API layer 1420 mayinclude the plurality of output ports.

In order to dynamically configure a plurality of logical screens on adisplay screen, the API layer 1420 may include a plurality of softwaremodules, e.g., a multi-screen manager module ‘MultiscreenManager’, amulti-screen context module ‘MultiscreenContext’, a multiscreen contextlistener module ‘MultiscreenContextListener’, and a multi-screen contextevent module ‘MultiscreenContextEvent’, as illustrated in FIG. 15.

The multi-screen manager module 1510 manages the multi-screen contextmodule 1530, searches for a desired screen, displays informationspecifying what devices are shared by screens, registers themulti-screen context listener module 1550, or cancels the registrationof the screen context listener module 1550.

The multi-screen context module 1530 is an interface object associatedwith a screen object 1520 and determines whether the screen object 1520is to become a logical screen or a display screen according to aninterface operation performed by the multi-screen context module 1530.Various attributes illustrated in FIG. 6 may be set in the multi-screencontext module 1530. The multi-screen context module 1530 can providethe functions ‘SET’, ‘ADD’, ‘GET’, and ‘REMOVE’ described above withreference to FIG. 6.

When attribute information of the screen object 1520 is altered by themulti-screen context module 1530, the multi-screen context event module1540 serves as an event class announcing that the attribute informationof the screen object 1520 has been changed, and the multi-screen contextlistener module 1550 serves as a listener interface object which can berealized in a predetermined application class which attempts to receivean event prompted by the multi-screen context event module 1540.

An application 1560 is a module which is driven on the application layer1130. The application 1560 allows the user to choose a desired serviceand to freely arrange a plurality of logical screens on a displayscreen.

In detail, the application 1560 transmits various commands which allowthe user to dynamically configure and manage logical screens to themulti-screen manager module 1510, and the multi-screen manager module1510 controls operations corresponding to the various commands to beexecuted through the multi-screen context module 1530.

The multi-screen context module 1530 is associated with the screenobject 1520 and manages the attribute information of the screen object1520 illustrated in FIG. 6. In order to manage the attribute informationof the screen object 1220, the multi-screen context module 1530 mayinclude a variety of functions or methods.

The multi-screen manager module 1510 receives service componentsprovided by various service sources from the device driver layer 1510and can operate to display the received service components on a logicalscreen or a display screen. Such a function may be performed by aseparate module not illustrated.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying a pluralityof services displayed on respective corresponding logical screens by themodules illustrated in FIG. 15 on a display screen according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 16, in operation S1610, the multi-screen managermodule 1510 produces a display screen and a number of logical screenscorresponding to the number of services to be performed.

In operation S1620, the multi-screen manager module 1510 connects thelogical screens to respective corresponding services received from thedevice driver layer 1410. The multi-screen manager module 1510 may calla method ‘addServiceContext’ for each of the logical screens by settingservice context objects of the received services as parameters for thelogical screens services. The method ‘addServiceContext’ connects alogical screen to a service and may be provided by the multi-screencontext module 1530.

In operation S1630, once the logical screens are connected to therespective services, the multi-screen manager module 1510 connects thelogical screens to the display screen. At this time, the multi-screenmanager module 1510 may call a method ‘setDisplayScreen’ for each of thelogical screens by setting a display screen object to which the logicalscreens are connected as a parameter. The method ‘setDisplayScreen’connects a logical screen to a display screen and may be provided by themulti-screen context module 1530.

A method ‘setDisplayScreensetDisplayScreen’ may be set to ‘public voidsetDisplayScreensetDisplayScreen(HScreen screen) throwsSecurityException, Illegal StateException’, and this method allows aninstance ‘HScreen’ that is provided as a parameter to be associated withthe current logical screen. In this case, the instance ‘HScreen’ ispreferably a display screen.

A parameter of the method ‘setDisplayScreen(HScreen screen)’ may includea value of ‘NULL’. In this case, when the method‘setDisplayScreen(HScreen screen)’ is executed without exceptionhandling, the current logical screen is no longer associated with thedisplay screen.

The execution of the methods ‘SecurityException’ and‘IllegalStateException’ may be conducted as an exceptional operation forthe method ‘setOutputScreen(HScreen screen)’.

The method ‘IllegalStateException’ may be executed when a current screenis a logical screen or when a portion of a display screen associatedwith a current logical screen cannot change due to the characteristicsof a host platform.

In operation S1640, areas on the display screen to which the logicalscreens are to be respectively mapped are determined. At this time, apredetermined method provided by the multi-screen context module 1530can be called to determine an area on the display screen where thelogical screens are to be displayed.

According to the present invention, it is possible to perform aplurality of services provided by various sources such as cablebroadcasts, terrestrial broadcasts, various storage media, and externalinputs, in various manners using a single physical display screen.

While the present invention has been particularly illustrated anddescribed with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes inform and details may be made therein without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.Therefore, it is to be understood that the above-described exemplaryembodiments have been provided only in a descriptive sense and will notbe construed as placing any limitation on the scope of the invention.

1. An apparatus for providing multiple screens, the apparatuscomprising: a service processing module which provides a plurality ofservices; an interface module through which an audio content isindependently selected from among the plurality of services provided bythe service processing module; and an output module which outputs theaudio content which is selected.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe service processing module simultaneously provides the plurality ofservices.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio content isselected through the interface module by a user or an application. 4.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the output module outputs the audiocontent independently of the plurality of services.
 5. An apparatus forproviding multiple screens, the apparatus comprising: an interfacemodule through which a service is selected; and an output module whichoutputs an audio content of the service independently of the service. 6.The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the service is selected through theinterface module by a user or an application.
 7. An apparatus forproviding multiple screens, the apparatus comprising: an interfacemodule through which an audio content of a service is independentlyselected; and an output module which outputs the audio content which isselected.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the audio content isselected through the interface module by a user or an application. 9.The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the output module outputs the audiocontent independently of the service.
 10. A method of providing multiplescreens, the method comprising: selecting an audio content independentlyfrom a plurality of services which simultaneously provided; andoutputting the audio content which is selected.
 11. The method of claim10, wherein the audio content is selected by a user or an application.12. The method of claim 10, wherein, in the outputting of the audiocontent service, the audio content is output independently of theplurality of services.
 13. A method of providing multiple screens, themethod comprising: selecting a service; extracting an audio content fromthe service which is selected; and outputting the audio content which isextracted.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the specific service isselected by a user or an application.
 15. A method of providing multiplescreens, the method comprising: selecting an audio content independentlyfrom a service; and outputting the audio content which is selected. 16.The method of claim 15, wherein the audio content is selected by a useror an application.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein, in theoutputting of the audio content, the audio content is outputindependently of the service.